While neo-Nazis and garner wall to wall media coverage, we can’t help but wonder what happened to the endless promises of an Obamacare repeal.
Bouncing from one embarrassing repeal failure to the next, Congressional Republicans are using their summer recess to regroup. And Lord knows they need to get their act together.
As we’ve discussed at length, it’s hard to believe Republicans have any serious intentions of repealing Obamacare, but this is where we are, or at least what we’re being told:
This should be fun. McConnell made it clear after the Senate’s last failed attempt to roll back Obamacare that “it’s time to move on,” but the White House isn’t read to throw in the towel just yet.
From The Hill (grab your salt shaker here since The Hill is using anonymous sources for this scoop):
White House officials are exploring ways to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to return to the controversial issue of ObamaCare repeal when the Senate returns to work in September.President Trump, who has repeatedly criticized McConnell in public, wants to hold the leader’s feet to the fire on the issue, say White House sources.“I have not heard a single voice in the White House say give up on healthcare. Everyone keeps saying ‘let’s keep trying and let’s keep pushing,’ ” said one White House source.“We’re definitely not ready to move on and feel members should keep looking for a way to pass the bill. It would be one thing if it had fallen 30 votes short but they were just one vote shy of passing a bill in the Senate,” the source added.One point of leverage the White House may explore is using the looming expiration of reconciliation instructions for fiscal 2017 to argue for one more push.Under the rules, the GOP has until the end of September to pass ObamaCare repeal legislation under the fast-track rules, which prevent a Democratic filibuster.This means the GOP has just one last chance to defund Planned Parenthood or eliminate the most unpopular elements of ObamaCare, such as the mandate on individuals to purchase insurance.
After the Senate GOP flubbed their last attempt to repeal Obamacare, Trump, via Twitter, indicated he might end insurer subsidies. As a result, insurers claim a lack of subsidization would drive up the cost of premiums by some 20%. And they’re probably right about a premium increase, though by how much is another story. But this all seems like much ado about nothing because Trump hasn’t actually stopped subsidies, nor is there any plan to do that and bonus, Trump indicated subsidies will be paid in August. Not to mention that it’s the CBO (and we know how reliable their analysis is) is responsible for this 20% figure. Our analysis? Speculative hand wringing.
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